Sunday, November 6, 2011

I know he said it's a "slow process" and that he's "reaching out to all agents," but Cash is running the show for C.J. Wilson right now and it's brilliant.

Here's the thing. We don't really know if the Yankees are seriously interested in Wilson. Nobody does. And to be honest, it doesn't really matter if they are or not. CC was their big prize and they locked him back up before he even had the chance to hit the market for other teams to bid. But, one can safely assume that there were other teams out there prepping offers for CC in anticipation of him opting out, and now those teams are likely the ones, including others, who are going to be playing hard for Wilson as a backup plan. And the more the Yankees seem like they're involved, the more stories that get out there where Cash is talking about him, the more these other teams are going to be forced to up their bids, in terms of years and money, to ensure they land Wilson.

The Yankees are really in the driver's seat here. They can be as aggressive on Wilson as they want to be, even if it's just to drive up the price like they did with Carl Crawford last offseason, knowing that they've already secured CC, they have 3 returning starters, and that there are other pitchers available. If they are a serious player for Wilson and they get him, that's just icing on the cake. If they don't, they just move on to somebody else who fits what they're looking for. It would seem likely that we'll see this same approach in regards to Yu Darvish as well once he officially becomes a free agent, and I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but it's brilliant work by Cash and the front office to get themselves at the forefront of the discussions surrounding these guys and really force where the market for their services goes.